# Barnes and Noble just lost themselves a customer. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 24, 2012, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-and-noble-just-lost-themselves-a-customer/616688 "2012-03-24T13:12:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-and-noble-just-lost-themselves-a-customer/616688/41 "2012-03-29T16:21:02Z")
I almost bought a Nook Tablet. It had better hardware specs than the Fire, including having a microphone, physical volume buttons, and more RAM and storage. Really the Fire and Nook are decent little tablets, but are designed to sell you books. As other posters have suggested, rooting it will help with many of the restrictions. I have an HTC Evo View tablet and it too has a special charging port. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-and-noble-just-lost-themselves-a-customer/616688/42 "2013-01-29T00:45:44Z")
Barnes and Noble isn’t doing too well these days: [A third of Barnes & Noble stores may close in next decade, report says](http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-up-barnes-noble-stores-close-20130128,0,5751045.story) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-and-noble-just-lost-themselves-a-customer/616688/43 "2013-01-29T00:59:52Z")
My wife bought me a Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas. It’s not very comfortable to hold, but otherwise I adore it. I have a phone and a laptop for computing. All I wanted in an e-reader was something to show me books, and it does that brilliantly. The fact that I can download more via wifi is just gravy. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-and-noble-just-lost-themselves-a-customer/616688/44 "2013-01-29T01:35:00Z")
So, how does the SD slot work? Could you buy an 8Gb card (I think they run $20~30 around here), load it up with stuff and just use that? I mean, a 64Gb iPad has 64Gb, then you are done dancing, if you have cards for unlimited storage on a nook, well, the 1Gb limit would seem kind of trivial. ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-and-noble-just-lost-themselves-a-customer/616688/45 "2013-01-29T05:07:39Z")
It wasn’t around when this zombie thread first started, but Google Nexus 7 all the way XD Loving it. Only downside is the lack of an SD slot of any sort. Otherwise, couldn’t recommend it enough. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-and-noble-just-lost-themselves-a-customer/616688/46 "2013-01-29T12:47:21Z")
> [@For You](#): > > So, how does the SD slot work? Could you buy an 8Gb card (I think they run $20~30 around here), load it up with stuff and just use that? I mean, a 64Gb iPad has 64Gb, then you are done dancing, if you have cards for unlimited storage on a nook, well, the 1Gb limit would seem kind of trivial. Cards are much less expensive than that, I just bought a 32G microSD for my Samsung Galaxy Tab for $22. The cards will be somewhat slower than internal memory, but not enough to care. The microSD slot is one of the reasons I got the Tab. ---
**Author:** ![HookerChemical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@HookerChemical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HookerChemical)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-and-noble-just-lost-themselves-a-customer/616688/47 "2013-01-29T17:50:43Z")
> [@AngelSoft](#): > > It wasn’t around when this zombie thread first started, but Google Nexus 7 all the way XD Loving it. Only downside is the lack of an SD slot of any sort. Otherwise, couldn’t recommend it enough. Seconded. I have a Nexus 7 and I love it. I mostly use it for reading books (with the Nook app) and web browsing. The Nexus 7 was designed much more as a Kindle and Nook killer than an iPad killer. When it came out, it was the best small tablet. The updated Nook and Kindle are probably equals if you like the walled garden approach. My wife has a first generation Nook (the one with the very small touch screen at the bottom, and a larger non-touch e-ink screen for reading), which she likes. I can charge it with the micro-USB cable from my various Android devices (Samsung phones and a Nexus 7) no problem. Most Android devices I’ve looked at use the micro-USB, so chargers are compatible. The Nook tablet and the Kindle tablets are sort of the bastard child of the Android OS and the Apple walled garden approach. They’ve limited the apps you can get, but the average quality of the apps is probably higher. I’m more of a wilderness explorer with my rooted phone, but I can see the market for the garden approach. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-and-noble-just-lost-themselves-a-customer/616688/48 "2013-01-29T17:57:03Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > I’m a bit surprised that there aren’t after-market chargers available. > > On a more general note, my impression is that there are way too many types of chargers. Can’t they be standardized like batteries? You and me both. I dream of the day when all plugs are the same. The same plug you use for power on a PC is the same you can use for your mouse, a flash drive, or some third party device ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-and-noble-just-lost-themselves-a-customer/616688/49 "2013-01-29T18:01:11Z")
> [@For You](#): > > So, how does the SD slot work? Could you buy an 8Gb card (I think they run $20~30 around here), load it up with stuff and just use that? I mean, a 64Gb iPad has 64Gb, then you are done dancing, if you have cards for unlimited storage on a nook, well, the 1Gb limit would seem kind of trivial. It is trivial. I have a 16gb card and have no problems with it. The only tiny nitpick is that the Nook treats it like a separate storage area so you have to navigate to it, but it works just fine. Going all the way back to the OP, I’ve had my Tablet with its original charging cord for over a year, and there’s no sign of wear at all. Maybe it has to do with usage differences? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-and-noble-just-lost-themselves-a-customer/616688.md?page=2)